


Already Dead

by BlewDeChat



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Blood and Gore, Character Death, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Moretagswillbeaddedlater, Romance, Sebaek - Freeform, Slow Burn, Slow To Update, Violence, ZombieApocalypseAu, hunbaek, pastsuyeol
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-23
Updated: 2019-11-23
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:40:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21535348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlewDeChat/pseuds/BlewDeChat
Summary: Disclaimer: There's a lot of blood/gore/and fighting, so if you can't handle that stuff I wouldn't suggest reading this- and if you're into that then you can read at your own risk. Also, this won't be updated like every week, but like once every month or every other month. There will be quite a bit of swearing tooAnyways please enjoy :) (also the actual summary/bio imma put in the notes)
Relationships: Oh Sehun/Byun Baekhyun
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	Already Dead

**Author's Note:**

> BIO:  
> The world is infested with the unknown chemical, "S72FQ9". It's similar to an airborne mold- when contained. But.. when released into the atmosphere and inhaled, the chemical flows throughout the bloodstream and slowly alters into a slowly growing infectious virus, called "R16Z". 
> 
> The virus isn't immediately triggered; it usually activates when the weak aren't stable and/or sick- for example: elderly people, or children are more vulnerable to the virus than an adult or older teen. When the virus fully takes place, it dissolves the brain into mush- only letting a few simple functions of the body being to be mobile; like walking, running, lifting and moving limbs, and of course.. eating. After the brain finishes dissolving, the outside and insides of that person begins to deteriorate, killing them in a sense, but because the virus is the cause of the potential death: it reanimates the vessel into a flesh eating monstrosity.
> 
> But, the question at stake is why was it released, and who released the chemical?
> 
> As time passed by many surviving survivors grouped together into small districts, while others stayed alone or as a duo of sorts and move along. The small districts are usually outside of the city to stay clear from the zombies that rule the area, or on the outskirts- even there are some groups that live within the forest completely away from anything that used to be "civilization".
> 
> But, even with this huge mess unraveling in the world, two survivors meet. Upon meeting- in a strange way- they grow close and try to save the world... but can they do it?

_ 6/13/XX _

In this world you either kill, or get killed.. Everyone believes survival is somehow ‘ _ the key _ ’. As if you’re the last one surviving, everything will magically go back to “normal”.

But the point of the matter: that’s not how it works.

Little more than a year and a half ago the first stages of the zombie apocalypse began- yes, the  _ zombie apocalypse _ .

A deadly chemical contaminated the atmosphere, which when inhaled and activated in humans, it alters and becomes a deadly  _ virus _ . But, this virus only truly takes over in some individuals; mutating them into mindless flesh eating monstrosities.

No one knows how or why the chemical was released- or even _who_ let it break through.

Some believe it was the “SOG”: ‘Secret Officials of the Government’. The SOG was rumored to be meeting frequently before the world fell apart to complete shit- and once everything blew up, they apparently just  _ disappeared _ .

Of course it would seem ‘ _ normal’  _ for them to vanish since the  _ apocalypse _ was literally beginning to unravel, but no one has even heard or seen them again- like they left the whole planet itself.

And one by one, humans around the globe were recorded to be found dead only to rise again in only minutes to seconds, craving flesh like rabid cannibals.

As the infection and virus was now known, the numbers of deaths accumulated to its at most peak.. Most deaths were from the elderly, sick and young children, and the weak that couldn’t recover from the preinfection when the virus was first spreading and was activated.

The remaining living survivors started to form groups to stay alive and try to protect each other since all they had left was themselves. 

Groups began to get larger as the apocalypse only got worse with more deaths. The groups typically had leaders they’d followed, and when the leaders decided building walls to make communities of sorts: they followed. Thus, communities were built with borders to keep out not only the z’s.. but from other groups.

Resources are scarce, mainly because no one can seem to get into the main cities because zombies are always filled to the brim in the street and buildings, blocking any passage to food or supplies in stores within these structural towns.

Since resources are typically low, groups began rivaling against each other in competition for survival of the fittest. Fights would and still break out when conflicts occur between different communities.

The communities that mostly get into these trivial complications are often the more major.. or larger groups, which seek more power from others and take great pleasure in other’s fear more than trying to support their community.

Small groups, or communities, most likely live in a tiny district away from larger areas, or travel constantly and continuously move to stay safe from danger. Others are slightly bigger that live in more ‘public’ areas where they fight to reserve their turf, and try to collect other stray survivors to make their ‘ _ pack’ _ stronger.

Then.. there are the  _ major groups _ . These district communities are the ones to be afraid of: one- they have a  _ ton _ of people in their group that are mostly likely to be fighting savages, and two- they’ll literally do  _ anything _ to survive. Not all of these major groups are like this though, but an abundance of them are because the apocalypse itself has brainwashed them into believing in blood and gore is the only way- there are even smaller groups that are blood thirsty like the psycho major communities, but they’re all hiding and waiting for others to enter their territory so they can jump whoever dares to step foot on their land, and end their lives brutally.

But one thing in common between all the groups- from small afraid packs to the gruesome major groups, is one thought: ...“Survival is the  _ key” _

  
  
  
  


_ ✴⭐ _ ~AD~ _ ⭐✴ _

  
  
  
  


The king-like man stood above the savage crowd below him, looking down upon them as if they were crushable and mindless insects. He was tall with strong features, with large dark eyes, also had a mullet sort of hairstyle with highlights, and wore more..  _ presentable _ attire compared to the wild mob down below: black button-down, ripped blood stained blue jeans, chestnut brown combat boots, and placed on his large shoulders was soiled with blood animal pelt- more specifically: a grizzly bear’s.

A smug smirk tugged at the tall man’s lips before he opened his mouth widely to let his deep voice resonate out as if his voice was a megaphone itself, “My sisters and brotheren,” he boomed out clearly, “a storm is coming-”

The crowd below the balcony the man was on burst into loud chatter in response, then hushed down once the man continued his announcement.

“A storm is coming, I can sense it!” the tall man claimed and raised his arms for more emphasis, “I can  _ feel  _ it! It’s no ‘normal’ storm!”

Once again, the gathering from below broke out into lower toned talk, some sounding worried with the unexpected news, which was still not further explained.

“Don’t worry!” the man above the wild mass of people assured quickly, “It’s something I believe we can handle! We will need to prepare, and get ready for this..  _ ‘storm’ _ ..”

As the crowd discussed the little bit that was announced, the leader-like man smiled crazily before he boomed out with a dramatic voice, "For Blood Stain! We’re Blood Stain!"

The gathering listened to their leader and began chanting after him  _ ‘For Blood Stain! We’re Blood Stain!’ _ like cult members trying to summon the devil.

As if he were ultimately satisfied, the giant man smirked once again, then turned away powerfully and calling out behind himself to the crowd that continued to chant loudly, “That is all, you may continue with your tasks!” afterwards, he left the balcony by exiting through the gigantic double doors behind him, going back inside the cleared museum.

Tapping sounds echoed through the dimly lit narrow hallway as shoes rapidly clacked as the tall man walked briskly down the passage with his two side men closely following on either side of the large man. They continued hurriedly, mind set on getting to where they were heading.

“What is this weeks’ death count,  _ Tao _ .” the giant man in the front demanded darkly, not holding the boisterous tone he had like before.

The man to the left of the leader-like man had extremely dark eye bags, short ebony hair, and a scuffed up shirt and blue jeans. He looked awfully exhausted and unclean, unlike the man leading them. When Tao replied, his voice similar as the former’s- dark and bland, “Twelve, and also including the five that were bitten that we put down ourselves here, making it to be an overall total of seventeen, sir..”

Stopping in his tracks the large dominant man whipped around to the slightly shorter and snarled at him as he fumed angrily, “SEVENTEEN?!”

Tao flinched back when the former got into his face, not because he was afraid, but because of the taller’s horrific bad breath, then he affirmed his claim, “That group- the one our smaller scout teams tried to raid, killed most of them, and only three made it back-”

“Get those three,” the large man demanded venomously, “and fucking kill them.”

“On it..” Tao sighed tiredly as he turned around, and began to quickly walk in the other direction to fulfill the giant man’s orders without complaints or questions.

After Tao left to tend to his task, the leader-like man pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation before glancing at the other man that was walking on his right. He took a deep breath to calm himself before addressing the much shorter.

“Those two  _ newbies _ .. the ones that just arrived, can you please bring them to my office? I haven’t been able to formally meet them yet.”

The man in front of the leader was very short, he had jet black hair that was lightly permed and was parted down the middle, making it look slightly fluffy, he wore a white shirt with the sleeves ripped off, black ripped jeans, and white scuffed-with-dirt tennis shoes. The latter nodded and replied as if the whole conversation from before didn’t faze him one bit, “I can do that- would you like me to get them right now? I think they’re still at the front entrance with one of our scavenger teams.”

The tall leader-like man spun back around the way he was going, and started to swiftly walk again, then answered the shorter politely, “Yes, that would be fantastic, bud. Thanks,  _ Minseok _ !”

Nodding not really to anyone in particular, the man called Minseok dashed off out of the hall as his permed hair bounced on his forehead, hurrying off to find the _newbies._

_ ✴⭐~⭐✴ _

“You know, Sehun.. these people are kinda…  _ strange _ ..” a tall man with sun kissed skin whispered quite nervously to yet another tall male with milkey white skin and jet black hair.

Sehun glanced around with dark narrow eyes, and retorted back, “I agree, those guys that took us in said they were part of a smaller group.. this doesn't look so small to me.”

“Is it just me, or are they all-” but before the other male could reply to Sehun, a short man interrupted their conversation, clearing his throat to get the two tall men’s attention.

“Ahem, are you guys ‘Sehun’ and ‘Jongin’?”

Sehun looked down at the muscular short man with black permed hair, then back at  _ Jongin _ , furrowing his brows as if by doing that Jongin would understand that Sehun was going to answer the short man. He adjusted his battered up leather jacket that hugged his broad shoulders and toned muscles, then looked back to the one who addressed them, “That would be us.. and you are?” Sehun’s deep voice intimidatingly asked.

“Kim Minseok.” the shorter replied confidently and held out his hand for the other to grasp. Sehun grabbed a hold and firmly shook Minseok’s hand before letting go so Jongin could do the same.

As Jongin let go of Minseok’s hand he smiled and nervously chuckled out, “Nice to meet you, man. What do you need? You knew our names before we even knew yours.”

Minseok awkwardly laughed before answering, “I kinda asked a few people first, didn’t want to be rude- and I came to get you because someone else really wants to meet you two.”

Sehun and Jongin both looked at each other, communicating through their eyes. Jongin only shrugged while Sehun held a suspicious gaze. Sehun wasn’t feeling too comfortable with Minseok’s presence, and the odd way the shorter spoke to them.. seemed  _ fake _ .

Looking back to Minseok, Sehun replied in a cold tone, “Okay.”

The shorter smiled a sweet- psychotic- grin, nodding as he turned around and told the two to follow him to wherever he was planning on taking them.

Sehun looked around the mostly crowded streets, and turned to the other tall man walking beside him and whispered to him as quietly as he could manage so Minseok couldn’t hear him, trying to get back to their previous conversation before the short man interrupted them, “This ‘Sanctuary’ is definitely a  _ little _ big, don’t you think, Jongin?”

Jongin also glanced around, nodding as he whispered back to the other just as quietly, “Ya, these people don’t look right, too.. you know- like in the head.”

The former hummed in response, thinking the same as the latter as they continued to walk to god knows where.

They stayed silent for the duration of the long walk, and along the way noting things about their surroundings; most of the buildings they passed where large rectangular warehouses painted in plain dark shades of brown, cobalt blue, and more, and quite a few buildings had metal numbers or letters welded near the top on the outside. Another thing they noticed was the strange similarities in clothing choice most of the people wore as they walked past them. A hand full of people nearly identical in color to the plain buildings, and most more hoodies or ripped shirts and dark cargo pants with combat boots.

Slowly fewer people were gathered in the streets as a gigantic museum came into view. The two behind Minseok silently gasped as they marveled at the beautifully built building. The building was a marblely white, and the historic building was in great condition considering what was going on in the entire world at the moment.

Jongin leaned over to Sehun and whispered with this amazed look on his face, “Imagine all those z’s they must’ve had to take down in order to clear that place out!”

Sehun grimaced at the implied mention of killing- even though what was being  _ ‘killed’ _ wasn’t necessarily alive in the first place, the tall man believed killing was wrong either way. But, if there was an absolute  _ need _ to kill in any way shape or form, he would.

They walked up the huge marble steps up to the giant white engraved double doors. Minseok turned his head slightly to speak as he pushed the doors open, “This is the museum, we call it ‘The House of Blood Stain’, or if you want you can just call it ‘The House’. It’s our very own government headquarters you could say.” and then he chuckled at his own inside joke as they stepped inside the gigantic building.

As Minseok closed the door behind them, Sehun and Jongin looked around at their new surroundings. The fairly clean marble floors reflected the ceiling art displayed like a magnificent canvas presented to only those worthy to lay their eyes on these masterpieces. As the three walked on through the building they passed various different kinds of antiques, old framed paintings, and perfectly carved statues. 

They climbed yet another set of marble stairs before sharply turning into a dimly lit hallway, only thing emitting light would be the small wall torches and the little bit of sunlight streaming in through the red velvet curtain covered windows.

The three finally stopped at the end of the hallway where two large dark chestnut colored doors with golden handles were closed. Minseok glanced behind himself and held his hand up to Jongin and Sehun as if he was silently telling them to stay put before he turned back and loudly knocked on one of the doors to get the attention of whoever was on the other side.

As the short man in front of Sehun and Jongin reached for the door knob, a booming voice could be heard from the other side, “Come in!”

Sehun and Jongin both stepped into the room with quizzical looks. The big doors behind them loudly clicked shut as Minseok left the two in the room by themselves with whoever was sitting at the desk in front of a large glass window that outlooked outside of the walls protecting the community.

Sehun briefly gazed at the door behind himself longingly, not really wanting to be there. He thought it was too much of a.. demanding and unnecessary meeting, to be a genuine greeting.

“Welcome to Blood Stain, boys! This is the Blood Stain house, if Minseok hasn’t told you already~” the tall leader-like man announced with a proud and boastful tone as he stood up from his seat behind the large wooden desk, and pointed to two black cushioned chairs in front of his desk, “You may sit here, you must be  _ tired _ .” the man’s voice sounded more.. sarcastic, than polite to Sehun. He just didn’t know why this strange tall man irked him so much.

Jongin nodded towards the man, and cautiously replied with a quick, “Thank you.”, then walked to the chair to the right and sat down a bit awkwardly. After Jongin sat down Sehun followed, not saying a word as he also sat down next to Jongin.

Then, seeing that the two were now seated, the giant man behind the desk smiled devilishly and sat in his own respective seat as well. The man laid his folded arms on top of the spotless desk and began to ask simple questions, “You two are brothers? Correct?”

Jongin and Sehun side-eyed each other with suspicious gazes and nodded with a tinge of fear. How does this weird guy know they’re brothers? They didn’t tell anyone how they’re related.

“Don’t worry~ I just guessed; you two looked like you were close and had a special kind of bond. No need to be all tense, you guys look like a zombie just ate your mom.” the tall man nonchalantly chuckled, and waved his hand around for more emphasis.

The two brothers didn’t feel any relief at the other’s words, especially the last bit the guy just so casually garbled out. It only put them more on edge as they tried to relax even a little bit.

The leader-like man smiled and closed his eyes, then he folded his hands on his lap and tossed his boot-covered feet onto the desk, crossing them dominantly. Once he opened his eyes again he glanced between the two with a crazy smile still plastered on his face as he lazily asked, “So~ which one is Jonghun, and who is Se-in?”

Jongin awkwardly into his had before he corrected the man with his clean boots still crossed on the table, “It’s actually Jongin, and my younger brother here is Sehun.”

“Oh!” the tall man chuckled out loud, his laugh bouncing off the walls as it echoed, then he sat up straight and put his feet back onto the floor before continuing, “My apologies; I’m Wu Yifan- you may call me Kris instead.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,  _ Kris _ .'' Jongin stood up, and politely extended his arm towards Kris, looking at Sehun as he nudged his head at the tall man in front of them as if he was silently telling him to give his respects. 

Kris took a hold of Jongin’s open hand, giving it a few firm shakes, and then turned to Sehun, who only scoffed and roughly gripped onto the leader-like man’s hand, giving his hand one hard shake. Kris smirked at Sehun’s presence, amused with his bold attitude as he leaned back into his chair and folded his hands back on his lap with a steady gaze on the brothers.

“Pleasure is all mine.” Kris smoothly replied, a smirk still plastered on his lips.

Staring at the man in front of himself as if he were attempting to read the strange guy’s true intentions, Sehun clicked his tongue, stumped not being able to read the man’s mind for answers.

“So,” Kris casually spoke, trying to ‘get to know’ the two who sat mostly silent in their chairs, “my right-hand man tells me you two are excellent  _ fighters _ \- from what he’s heard from the scout group that assisted you two anyways.”

For the first time since they’ve been cooped up in this spacious and mostly empty office-of-sorts, Sehun finally retorted back bitterly, “We’re not ‘fighters’. We just defend ourselves.” and then he crossed his arms across his chest as his eyebrows knitted together in thought.

Jongin knowingly glanced at his younger brother. He side-eyed Kris before adding onto Sehun’s statement to clarify the younger’s correction, “What he means is that we don’t really enjoy killing, even if you could say the zombies out there are already ‘dead’, we don’t go out of our way to kill. But if it’s a must, then we’ll do what we have to do and not go overboard.”

The king-like man lazily sitting in his chair quietly listening to the two then set his folded hands on the desk and sighed as his eyebrows furrowed deeply thinking about something.

“I understand, not everyone is up for blood and gore, but we all have a job here and a main goal.” Kris said, irritation slightly laced in his tone, “Our goal here, as Blood Stain, is to  _ survive at all costs _ . Because  _ survival  _ is the  _ key _ \- you feel me?”

The two men sat and dwelled on Kris’s seemingly distorted and selfish words, a bit in shock at the dark tone the giant man in front of them used. Just the phrase itself was.. dark, but the brothers shared a quick glance and decided through eye contact to not address it. As it might cause problems for them if they tried to bring it up.

“Anyways~” Kris coughed lightly, trying to change the subject quickly, himself, “Hopefully you’ll enjoy what our Sanctuary has to offer, and we’d very much appreciate if you’d stay. We could sure use a few more helping hands.”

Sehun’s brows knitted more as he opened his mouth to talk back, but Jongin cut him off, knowing the younger was bound to say something stupid, “Of course we’ll stay, we’d love to help around.” after he was done affirming their stay, Jongin turned to glare at Sehun, telling him to watch what he says through his eyes. Sehun rolled his own eyes in response, grumbling to show his displeasure with the older.

“Great,” Kris smiled oddly, like he was thinking about something else unrelated or something, “I’ll have Minseok show you around the community, and where you guys will be staying. By the time Minseok drops you two off, I’ll have a job picked out for you guys so you can help contribute like everyone else.”

After instructing the brothers, Kris then stood up from his padded black chair and took long strides to the large doors Sehun and Jongin originally came through. 

Jongin and Sehun stayed silent and sat still while watching Kris crack open one of the double doors to whisper a few things to Minseok who was waiting patiently outside the whole time so they could talk privately until he was needed afterwards. As Kris finished a minute later, he stepped back inside with a satisfied grin with the short black haired male at his side.

“Alright, boys! Minseok’s ready to guide you around- it was nice to meet you two, can’t wait to get to know you guys better~” Kris smiled widely as his voice boomed out like it did before when they first entered the large room.

Minseok waited quietly for Sehun and Jongin to join him as the two brothers stood up and took cautious steps to Minseok, then walked out the door behind the short man leading them after Kris gave the two brothers a large creepy grin, and shut the door behind them once fully back into the same dimly lit hallway they entered just a little bit ago.

“How was your chat?” Minseok asked politely as they continued to walk down the long hallway.

Jongin shrugged awkwardly, “Alright I guess, is he like- your leader, or something?”

Sehun looked towards the other tall man, as if he were silently seconding his question.

The shorter of the three leading the way chuckled strangely, “‘Or something’.”

“What?” Sehun asked with a perplexed look plastered on his normally stoic face.

“He’s more like..” Minseok put a knuckle to his chin in thought as they continued walking, “an older brother, who helps guide us towards ‘ _ the right path’ _ .”

An unsettling chill ran up Sehun’s spine as those simple words left a knot build in the pit of his stomach. He stayed quiet, not wanting to say anything that might perturb the shorter male.

_ ‘In other words a fucking  _ **_cult_ ** _ leader.’ _ Jongin thought to himself, feeling equally as disturbed as his younger brother who was walking right beside him.

They stepped back outside as they finally left the giant eerie building looming behind them, walking away and joining in yet another mass of people like before.

Sehun looked around again, but now with ‘formally’ meeting Blood Stain’s main guy- or however the community address him, he tried to observe the people more closely, trying to somehow pick up their personalities and ways of thinking. But, one thing he just only now noticed was the lack of young lives running about. There were no children playing or following family members whatsoever, only adults and older teens carrying a variety of weapons passed with dark expressions etched into their features.

Lightly nudging Jongin, Sehun leaned over to the older’s ear to whisper to him, confusion laced in his voice, “Where are the kids? There are no children anywhere..”

The older glanced around as well before speaking up to get Minseok’s attention, “Yo, Minseok, where are all the kids around here?”

Minseok side-eyed the brothers and looked back to the front, not answering the question. Sehun and Jongin looked at each other, giving the same confused look. 

As Jongin opened his mouth to repeat himself, thinking that maybe the shorter hadn’t heard him clearly, Minseok finally replied with a more quiet voice- like he was trying to hide something that wasn’t supposed to be discovered.

“School.”

Sehun’s face distorted, now even more confused, “School?”

“School.” Minseok repeated, holding the exact same tone as before.

Now glances of worry and suspicion plastered on both of their faces, Jongin once again made eye contact as if they were speaking through their eyes.

Something wasn’t right about this place. There was definitely something extremely  _ wrong _ with this ‘group’. The brothers could just sense it, but didn’t know how or what it was, so they kept quiet and didn’t address it- they  _ couldn’t _ address it, as it could be dangerous if they tried.

“This place.. is fucked up.” Jongin fiercely whispered to Sehun, trying to stay as quiet as possibly could, so no one could hear their conversation.

Sehun retorted back with a low growl, “No shit.”

They followed Minseok for a little while until the short man finally stopped and cleared his throat as he turned around to face the two that were behind him. He smiled that strange smile he always seems to wear, then he used his hand to point over at a rusty plain blue warehouse that looked to made from scrap metal with a gigantic metal letter ‘M’ welded above the old double doors.

“This is our ‘Market’, that’s why there’s a metal ‘M’ there. You can go here and trade things you find or have- I’ll take you on a mini detour, so I can show you around!” Minseok explained.

Sehun looked at Jongin seeing that the man was already following the shorter guiding them, and quickly followed as well. He still couldn’t rid the churning in his stomach as the pit grew as he dwelled on Minseok’s devious words.

As they entered the ‘Market’, Sehun took immediate notice to all the strange booth-looking stands at every corner and open space, leaving only a little room to walk around. The next thing that caught his attention was how many people were in this so-called ‘Market’. There were groups of people at each and every booth either browsing or buying items these stands had to offer with whatever items they had brought with them.

“Do you guys like oranges?” Minseok randomly asked the two men who were still standing behind the short man like stone statues.

Jongin glanced at Sehun with a confused expression, then at Minseok with his brow raised and slightly hesitated, “Ya.. I guess?”

Minseok nodded as he quickly dug in his pocket, and pulled out a few bullet shells, a lighter, and a small bottle of clear gooey liquid. The short man almost literally jumped out of his skin once he caught sight of the small bottle, then hurriedly shoved it back into his pocket as his face reddened with embarrassment.

After calming down a tad bit, Minseok opened his mouth and let out a shaky laugh as he averted his eyes away from the brothers, “H-how did t-that get in there?!”

Jongin quietly snickered at the shorter, while Sehun just rolled his eyes and smacked the back of his older brother’s head to silently scold him for being so rude and childish. Jongin rubbed the spot where the other slapped with a pained expression etched on his face.

Putting his lighter and two of the five bullet cases away back into his pocket as well, Minseok then quickly began to walk and weave through the mass of people, disappearing from the brothers’ view. It seemed to Sehun the shorter was on a mission and determined to find something.

The two tried to follow the shorter through the massive crowd, and once they caught a glimpse of the other’s black fluffy hair, they jogged a little faster to catch up with the smaller male and accidentally bumping into a few people as they passed by.

They finally came to a stop at what looked to be a fruit booth, and walked up behind Minseok to watch what he was doing. Sehun assumed this is where Minseok was so locked-on finding, and stayed quite as he waited for the shorter to complete his task.

“A bag of eight oranges.” Minseok demanded with a tone that was unfamiliar to Sehun and Jongin, then he pointed to the makeshift bag of orange fruit made from thick fishing line that hung from a hook behind the man inside the booth.

The guy Minseok was addressing was a somewhat tall man that wore a nasty cobalt blue shirt, dark brown cargo pants that had disgusting stains all over, and a dirty white apron tied behind his neck and around his waist. His hair was a greasy chocolate brown mop on his head, and the scowl on his face didn’t seem to improve his appearance, only making him look more like a slob.

Sehun’s face slightly contorted at the sight of the man, but didn’t really care since he knew the man probably couldn’t help they way he presented himself, due to it was the apocalypse and you can’t really take time to fully bathe and tidy yourself.

The gross looking guy then barked back at Minseok sharply, “Whaddya have to offer,  _ shrimp _ .”

Sehun could hear the low growl coming from Minseok’s throat as the short man fumed, “These- you damn numbskull.” and slammed down the three bullet shells he pulled from his pocket earlier onto the stand separating the two men.

The dirty man behind the booth crossed his arms across his chest and raised a brow to show how unimpressed he was before he chuckled out in a jesting kind of tone, “Three bullet shells- for  _ eight _ oranges? I don’t think so~”

Minseok grumbled with an irritated look plastered on his face and balled his hands into fists, “That’s all I have to offer.”

“Well, you see here,  _ buddy _ ,” the man sarcastically squinted his eyes at the shorter male and used a voice you might use when explaining something trivial to a child, “I can’t use empty cases- I’ll end up having to get them fixed myself, and that’ll cost  _ me _ something. Why give me something use _ less _ , when what you’re asking for is use _ ful _ ?”

Minseok’s face darkened in anger. Seeing this little quarrel made Sehun think that maybe the shorter had some past issues with this nasty-looking guy, so he stepped forward a bit to tell Minseok that it was fine, but before he could say anything, the short man quickly scooped the bullet shells up and jammed them back into his pocket. Only to also pull out the bottle of clear liquid from before, and hurriedly covered it with his hand and slide it on the table to the dirty man in front of them.

The guy looked down at Minseok’s hand covering the bottle and understood the gist of what was under the short man’s palm, and discreetly picked it up to examine the bottle with his own hand, making sure it was hidden from the public eyes. He nodded with a satisfied grin, shoving the bottle into one of his front pockets on his apron. He turned around to grab the makeshift fish net bag full of oranges and pulled it from the hook, then handed the bag to Minseok before casually waving his hand and bidding goodbye with a sly smirk plastered on his lips.

“Bye  _ shrimp _ ~”

“Fuck off, bastard.” Minseok scoffed quietly as he stormed off in the opposite direction, and Sehun and Jongin silently followed the shorter. Sehun stared at Minseok, trying to read his movements. He could easily tell the shorter didn’t have much of a temper with the man they were previously with, and decided not to talk about the dirty guy to Minseok, so he wouldn’t upset the shorter.

Jongin whipped his head back and forth as he looked at all the booths surrounding them as they passed by, a curious glint in his eyes. There were various booths, different things offered in each stand: from nick-nacks to necessities. It was strange for them to see so many things in such a small area. He was used to digging in rubbish piles and scavenging broken down homes in order to find even a speck of anything of value.

As Sehun looked from his wandering-eyes brother to the seemingly mysterious man guiding them around, his brows furrowed in thought. He had so many questions for the shorter, but couldn’t seem to figure out a way to approach them. 

He stayed silent for a while as they walked, only sound being the chatter in the building and rapid tapping of shoes.

Sehun then coughed to get Minseok’s attention before asking, “Do you know him? Who was that guy back there? You two look like you seem to know each other well, but don’t seem to get along.”

Minseok sighed and stopped at a random booth, looking at what the lady behind the counter top had to offer, not really even completely observing what was inside and only glancing at the junk. 

He took another deep breath and turned to Sehun to reply to the much taller male, “Ya, we used to be really good friends, but..” Minseok paused, struggling with what he wanted to say, then all of a sudden began to look around worriedly like he knew something was wrong. It was as if he was paranoid someone was eavesdropping on their conversation.

Sehun took notice to the shorter man’s sketchy behavior, but still tried to a comforting tone to calm the man down, “‘But’ what?” he asked, then a strange nagging feeling nipped at the back of his conscience, but pushed it to the side because he was too focused on Minseok’s issue.

A strange overwhelming feeling of trust bloated inside of Minseok when he looked back up at Sehun again. He didn’t know why. They only just met less than an hour ago, but this tall man with his battered up leather jacket put off the most trusting aura, and it made a part of Minseok yearn for that. He opened his mouth to answer, but closed his eyes and shook his head.

“Nothing, we just got into an argument is all.”

Minseok then turned back to the booth, going back to think to himself and glimpse over the items displayed.

“Yo, Minseok! What booth is that over there?” Jongin suddenly asked and pointed to a booth a few rows behind the one they were currently standing in front of, “Are those masks?”

Minseok flinched and looked up to figure out what the other was talking about, and a nervous pit grew in his stomach. He knew what stand Jongin was asking about, but couldn’t let the brothers find out what it really was. For some miraculous reason, it didn’t feel right showing or letting them know about that certain booth in particular.. it was too early for them to understand Blood Stain’s full  _ potential _ .

The short man nervously shook his head and turned around to briskly walk towards the exit, once again weaving through the crowd, “It’s nothing you’ll like. Trust me it’s nothing interesting. Let’s go, I still need to show you guys your room, so let’s hurry before more people come in.”

The brothers locked eyes with each other, holding the same suspicious gaze that’s been plastered on their faces since the moment they were brought to this ‘community’. They looked away and followed Minseok through the clustered warehouse and out the exit to yet another bustling crowd of more people.

A feeling of uncertainty clouded Minseok’s mind, he didn’t know what was going on with him today. He’s supposed to be stoic and present himself as an intimidating fighter, but today he’s all over the place. He can’t seem to hold his image.. he’s finding his  _ old self _ again.

Minseok let out a small breath of relief, which Sehun barely caught, and thought to himself without saying anything to the short man. Minseok was just glad they were finally out of that building, wishing he didn’t take the brothers inside in the first place. 

The short man used a hand to drag it down his face in slight exhaustion and continued to briskly walk.

They walked through the silent mob as Minseok led them through the mass of people once more. The short male guided them towards the main entrance of the community, but then turned right, where a tall two story long brown building loomed over. At the top left corner of the building a giant metal  _ 6 _ was welded just like the market they were just at.

Minseok faced the two that were following him with a smile, an utterly  _ fake _ smile, and informed them with yet another unfamiliar tone, “You’ll be staying in room 494, in this building, which is six- the last building. There are five other buildings just like this one beside it in a row,” Minseok then used his hand and pointed at the buildings that were identical to the one they were in front of and continued to explain, “and they’re all numbered so you can find your building easily. There’s only two floors: an upstairs and a downstairs. Room numbers 100-200 are in the odd buildings one, three, and five. 300-400 room numbers are in the even buildings two, four and six. 100 and 300 number based rooms are on the first floor, where as the 200 and 400 number based are on the second.”

After finishing his thorough explanation, Minseok nervously laughed and asked the two intently listening, “Understand? Or would you like me to explain again.”

The brothers nodded instantly and followed the short man to the entrance to the building. Sehun glanced at the other buildings mentioned, noting that they were all identical besides the different welded numbers that indicated that they were separate buildings, just like Minseok stated.

Minseok pulled out a small silver key, then stuck it into a key hole on the see-through glass door and unlocked the door to let the brothers inside and followed behind them after shutting the door. He walked in front of Sehun and Jongin again and continued to walk down the empty hallway with tan carpeted floors and white painted walls.

They passed a handful number of doors with 300 as the base number. They walked to the middle of the building where a wide gap was present on the left side because of the stairway going up and turning the corner onto the next floor.

“Since your guys’ room is a 400 number,” Minseok said as began to ascend up the stairs, “you’ll be upstairs. Also, your room will be on the right side of the hallway because your room ends with an even number.”

“So, I’m guessing this place is pretty organized then, huh?” Jongin chuckled out dryly. He felt like he was in some sort of prison or bootcamp, but with nice floors. He almost felt  _ trapped. _ Although, it was better than another night of sleeping on the hard dirty ground, and having to take turns to stay up to guard their camp.

Minseok shrugged and lazily replied, “I guess.”

After reaching the top of the stairs, now on the second floor, Minseok led them to the right hallway and walked through an identical hallway just like the first floor, passing more doors before finally stopping in front of a light brown wooden door near the end of the long hallway. 

A gold painted piece of scrap ‘ _ 494 _ ’ was bound to the door above the small peephole that was eye level.

Reaching into his back pocket and pulling out a gold coated key and another silver key, Minseok lifted them up to show to Jongin and Sehun before explaining briefly.

“This silver one here is to get in this main building.” Minseok said as he held up the silver key up and handed it to Sehun, then elaborated more, “This goldish one is the key to your room.” then handed the said key into Sehun’s palm with the other key.

Before Minseok turned to leave he quickly mentioned, “There is a clean set of clothes on each of your beds inside. If you want something different or another pair, I can take you back to one of the markets later. For now, make yourselves at home, I’ll be stopping by later to talk to you about your assigned jobs.” with that said, Minseok also handed the make-shift fishing net bag of oranges to Jongin and resumed to leave.

Sehun hummed to himself, acknowledging everything the short man thoroughly explained. He looked in his palm where the keys were, and gently grabbing the gold one, and stuck it into the lock to unlock the door.

The room was oddly cold when the two men stepped inside the room. Jongin gently closed the door behind himself after they were both inside, clearly hearing a loud click once the door was completely shut.

In the room, Sehun noticed how the room was fairly big. It looked almost like a hotel suite, but a tad bit smaller. It had two small rooms where in each was a small dresser, one twin sized mattress that sat on the hardwood floor, and a nightstand with a lamp placed on top. There was a small living room with a petite entertainment center that had a small desktop looking television set on top, and across from the living area there was a decent sized bathroom with and exceptional sized shower, toilet, and sink. In the room right next to the entrance there was a mini kitchen with a small conventional oven, mini fridge, and a small round wooden table that included three chairs surrounding it.

Jongin whistled in astonishment as he ogled the room, and placed the bag of oranges Minseok got them onto the small wooden table in the kitchen. It has been a  _ very _ long time since they’ve even stayed in place with a nice room, nonetheless a room with a roof. 

At first it didn’t feel like they belonged there because they were used to surviving in the wilderness like animals, but as soon as Jongin caught glimpse of the T.V. he almost instantly got over it, and immediately ran over to it with amazed eyes.

“Sehun!” Jongin called to his younger brother excitedly, “There’s a T.V. and DVD player here! We haven’t watched movie in what? Two years?!”

Sehun laughed at the older’s childish behavior and jokingly teased, “Are you five?”

Strangely, Sehun seemed to feel a little at ease. Finally being left alone to regain his thoughts without feeling pressured. It was comforting inside this nice cold room, and for a second Sehun thought he could get used to it.

Jongin only rolled his eyes as he tried looking around to see if there were any discs lying around or if the screen actually worked.

As Sehun watched his older brother that strange nagging feeling from earlier pestered him again. It was obviously absurd to be this joyful over something so simple, but it was the apocalypse, so of course it would be rare to see these things in such a nice condition. Which is why the awful feeling was bugging Sehun in the first place.

Shouldn’t they be scared, Sehun thought. Shouldn’t they be out there fighting to  _ end this _ ? Was there even an ending to foresee? What’s the point of living and constantly fighting if you’re already infected and were bound to die and turn at any time? To him.. it was a pointless war.

Sehun couldn’t rid these pessimistic thoughts, or the terrible pit in his stomach that was eating at him as he walked into the living room and sat down on the small loveseat in front of the television set, and watched Jongin practically bubbling with happiness and excitedly cheered once he found a movie.

“Alright!” Jongin shouted with a bright smile on his face, “Now let’s see if the T.V. even works!”

Jongin punched his fist in the air with a determined expression and he pressed the power button and the screen successfully flickered on. He quickly turned on the DVD player, lightly pushing the eject button to place the disc into the tray and pushed the play button for it to take the tray and read the disc.

Hurriedly joining the younger on the small couch, Jongin anticipatingly watched the screen for the disc to be read and play patiently. A wide grin stretched across his face when the movie title popped up onto the screen as it automatically began to play.

_ ✴⭐~⭐✴ _

“They seem..  _ soft _ ..” Kris stated coldy.

Minseok sat silently in one of the black cushioned chairs as he listened to the large man, who was standing by the giant window and gazing out it with an extreme intensity within his eyes. The man found something interesting to watch as he let his thoughts linger on a bit, some of his wall guards were removing some of the zombies that were attempting to enter the borders of the town.

“That’s not good for our community..” the tall leader-like man continued to ponder out loud, his voice stern and dark, “They’ll only bring us down.”

Minseok’s eyes grew wide and stood up from his chair quickly as he tried to coax Kris desperately, “Hey, they might change and become more like us? What if they toughen up a bit after seeing what we do? We have to give them a chance. That scout group didn’t follow them for weeks for them to end up being kicked out, they’ll be a great addition! Don’t you want Blood Stain to grow  _ stronger _ ?”

The short man had no clue why he was suddenly determined to bring these to strangers in. There was something about them that seemed to bring a piece of his sanity back- if that even made sense. He doesn’t understand how, but just seeing how they act and speak reminded him of himself before he practically went insane.. and he’s not sure if he can handle losing himself again, but he wouldn’t tell Kris.. he  _ couldn’t _ . His mind was too muddled to comprehend his own feelings.

Kris moved his gaze away from the scene down below to Minseok’s eyes before he asked intimidatingly, “What are you on about? Are they something to you? You barely even know them. For all we know, they could be undercover and already belong to another outrageous group attempting to take us down, simply because they think we’re ‘psychotic’ and such.”

Looking down at his feet, Minseok clenched his fists. He couldn’t explain the feeling to the tall man that was currently starting him down with a heavy gaze. He was frustrated that he couldn’t understand why he felt so overprotective to these strangers, “I don’t know.”

Minseok hated to admit he didn’t know something, or when his suggestions or statements are questioned. He just wanted to give a piece of his mind without being shutdown or constantly being interrogated.

The giant man tilted his head and hummed, taking a few steps towards the shorter, his eyes still glued to the shorter, “Then, why does it bother you so much when I’m barely  _ implying _ getting rid of them?”

“I don’t know.” Minseok repeated himself and looked down to glare at his feet. He really didn’t know, all he knew was that that Sehun dude and his brother were important. He didn’t know  _ how _ , but he was certain that the tall men he was previously guiding around were somehow going to help put a stop to all of  _ this _ \- whatever  _ this  _ is anyway.

Kris scoffed at the short man as he towered over him, he had his arms crossed behind his back and jeered, “You can’t seriously believe that I’ll fall for your ‘I don’t know’ bullshit? Don’t act stupid, and stop saying ‘I don’t know’- you  _ do _ know. You just don’t want to tell me, right?”

“Like I said,” the short man fumed lightly before continuing in an almost begging tone, “I. Don’t. Know. I just think we could use them, they might be useful to us in the future.”

Humming in response, Kris walked to his chair and peeled his bloody bear pelt off his shoulders and placed it onto the back of his black leather chair, then sat down. He leaned forward onto his elbows on the large empty desk, resting his chin on top of his intertwined hands as he closed his eyes in thought.

“Please-” Minseok began to plead after the room went silent for a few minutes, but was immediately cut off by the large man who was sitting behind the desk.

“Fine.” Kris announced loudly with a hint of irritation tainting his voice. It was almost as if the tall man wanted to snap, but kept himself composed to save his image.

Minseok’s brows furrowed in confusion, wondering if the other was going to continue or not. It was very uncommon for Kris to just willingly give in without adding a catch, so it kind of stunned Minseok hearing the giant man answer so quickly without additionally putting any type of requirement, and after a few minutes of deafening silence Kris eventually spoke up.

“They’ll stay,” Kris lectured, “but everyone here has a job in order to stay, so they’ll have a job, which I’ve already decided on what I want them to do in order to prove themselves worthy of Blood Stain.”

“And what’s that?” Minseok asked, his tone laced with a slight bit of excitement. He was proud of himself that he somehow convinced the stubborn man that never bends to anyone's wishes, but at the same time he was nervous for Kris to reveal what job he wanted them to do, knowing all the laborious tasks the man could assign them.

Kris leaned back in his chair, and placed his boot-covered feet on the desk and crossed his arms behind his head before answering the shorter man, “I’ll have them join one of the scout and scavenger teams, we’ll see their true fighting skills and decide if they’re really needed. Even though I had that watch team spy on those two for a few weeks, doesn’t mean I should take their word. I’m half tempted to do a little  _ hunting _ with the scout team to keep a close eye on our new guests myself.”

Minseok only nodded in response, he didn’t want the former to change his mind if he suddenly said something that would piss off the other.

_ ✴⭐~⭐✴ _

After finishing their movie, Sehun and Jongin decided to take quick showers once they realized they had not only working electricity, but running water as well. 

It was astonishing, having electricity and running water was literally a luxury for anyone. It’s the end of the world after all. Watching everything that took so long to build just fall apart like it was nothing, then all of a sudden finding something that’d be considered ‘low class’ then would be now fancy and rare to have.

Sehun finished taking a shower first and switched with his older brother when he was done, and while he waited for Jongin he walked around their mini apartment and went to the kitchen to search the cabinets and shelves.

In one of the cabinets above the small stove, he found a few cooking spices, and in another shelf he discovered a couple of cups, bowls, and plates. He then walked over to the fridge and grabbed onto the white handle, opening the door to find a few unopened bottles of water and a small jar halfway filled with tabasco sauce.

Seeing the strange bottle of sauce made Sehun lightly chuckle as he reminisced back to all the pranks he and Jongin used to pull with the familiar spicy bottle of red liquid. But, soon that nostalgic smile faded once he remembered the reality they were in, realizing they’ll never be able to joke around so freely ever again. At least not until this nightmare ends, which to him means it’ll never happen because he knows he’s not dreaming, and there was no way of waking up from this cruel reality. This was a  _ real _ nightmare, with no way to wake up.

He closed the fridge as a soft sigh passed his lips depressingly, dragging his exhausted feet towards the small round table that still had the bag of oranges lying on top. Sehun pulled out one of the small wooden chairs and carefully sat down, since the chair looked quite old and frail, he was worried it would buckle under from any sort of weight.

He leaned forward to rest his folded arms on the table before reaching over to the oranges in the make-shift bag in the middle of the table, and ripped open a large hole on the side to grab one of the fruits.

Sehun sighed again as he examined the bright fruit in his hand, he didn’t really have an appetite considering the group that originally found them earlier that day gave them some canned soup before coming to the community. Even if he didn’t take what they offered them, Sehun thought he’d be fine as long as Jongin was alright and filled his stomach with something.

Sometimes he thought he was more of the older brother because he was more mature than Jongin, Sehun usually made the tough decisions, hunted for food, and took care of both of them- not to mention his combat skills were definitely more advanced since when he was a kid he took self defense classes and trained for years. 

Jongin was the one to do more of the communicating with others, so the two worked together as a team in order to stay alive. They needed each other, and if they had to, they’d sacrifice themselves for one another to keep the other alive.

As Sehun continued to observe the orange he held in his hand, Jongin walked out of the bathroom with the new set of clothing given to him, which was simply a dark grey hoodie with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows, rusty brown pants, and a pair of white socks that weren’t all that white.

Jongin used a hand to ruffle his damp hair as an attempt to dry it off, and went to the kitchen table to join Sehun in one of the other chairs across from the younger.

“It sucks that the water pressure is shit, and the water barely gets hotter than lukewarm.” the older sighed disappointingly in a whiny voice.

Sehun only added a lazy ‘yep’, and continued to stare at the fruit in his hand. 

Jongin’s gaze softened once he heard Sehun’s dead tone. He knew the reason was probably the same thing the younger usually mourns over: the past. Jongin knew how much Sehun wished he could turn back time and set everything straight and have the world go back to ‘normal’, but they both knew that’s not how life works and it was physically impossible to fix anything.

“Sehun,” Jongin began with a gentle tone, “what’s wrong? You can go and take a nap if you’re tired.”

Lightly shrugging, Sehun set the orange back onto the table in front of himself and replied in a quiet voice, “Nothing, I’m fine.. it just seems.. a bit surreal.. y’know?”

The older quirked a brow in confusion, but not totally dumbfounded by Sehun’s words since the younger was always thinking about these sorts of things, “Surreal? What’s ‘surreal’?”

“ _ This _ ,” Sehun sighed, lifting his hand and dragged it down his face in frustration, then proceeded to explain to the older with a more solemn tone, “we’re literally living just to fucking die, and here we are. In what would be considered a shitty apartment before all of this, but now it’s a fucking luxury to even have a roof over our head- it even has working electricity and running water! We can watch T.V. and even sleep in nice beds- It’s the Zombie fucking Apocalypse and we’re just sitting here practically enjoying our lives and have food to eat. I mean.. don’t get me wrong, I’m thankful for all of this, but shouldn’t we be out there and trying to do the most we can, like before? It feels.. surreal we’re even alive.”

Jongin silently listened intently to Sehun’s long rant, but when the younger was done and back to staring at the orange, he didn’t know what to say or do. He understood every word that came out of the younger’s mouth, but the way the truth sunk in afterwards wasn’t the most subtle feeling. It was a painful realization.

After debating with himself for several minutes, Jongin stood up from his seat and walked over to Sehun to bend down and embrace the younger in a comforting hug. He hesitated as he opened his mouth to say anything to the younger, knowing that it would be hard to say anything that would help the other because he knew everything Sehun had said was all too true and depressing. But Jongin made up his mind and tried his best to comfort Sehun, knowing it's the only thing he could do right then.

“I know it can seem surreal.. in fact it is, but think about it.. there is still going to be shit going on no matter what we do or whatever world we’re living in. All we can do right now is fight and try our best to survive until there is hope.” Jongin let go of Sehun and his thoughtful eyes looked into his younger brother’s pessimistic gaze, “Who knows- there could be someone out there right now trying to find a cure, or is looking for the cause and source of this? There are so many possibilities that we can only hope for, but it’s only ‘surreal’ if you’re stuck in the past, Sehun. It’s time to move on and keep going forward.”

Sehun’s eyes grew wide, he’s never heard his brother say something so serious. Jongin has always tried to comfort him through this whole struggle of living, but has never said anything like that. It inspired Sehun to really move forward and keep fighting, but it faded quickly as more crushing thoughts clouded his mind.

“What’s the point of a cure? Even with a cure there will probably be zombies to still kill, it’s not like they have another chance to live, they’re already dead and they can’t turn back. So what you won’t turn? You’ll still still fucking die miserably if you’re attacked.” Sehun dryly chuckled out the last part and glared at the bright fruit that was still placed in front of his folded arms.

Jongin sat back in his chair and smiled softly, carefully taking the orange away from the younger, and began to peel the fruit as he answered Sehun’s open question, “Maybe, it would give hope to others that want a happy future. Like kids? Or even to give a chance for people to love? I know I’d welcome that any day, and even if the cure didn’t treat the ones that already turned and we had to take them out, I wouldn’t mind working my ass off if it means I and many others will have a future to actually look forward to.”

Sehun thought deeply about the older’s words, and watched as his brother split the orange in half once he finished peeling the fruit. Jongin smiled then gently set one of the halves of the orange in front of Sehun. Sehun let out a small chuckle as he took a piece of orange off and plopped it into his mouth, chewing it quietly instead of replying to the older.

‘ _ Love?’ _ , Sehun thought with furrowed brows, ‘ _ I guess it's nice to be able to experience something like that without worrying that one of us may die of an inevitable disease we can’t avoid.’ _

They quickly finished eating their pieces of fruit. After they were done Jongin stood up to throw away the peels.

As Jongin threw the orange peels away a knock was heard from their door, and Jongin walked over to the door saying that he would get it since he was already up.

Jongin glanced inside the peephole and ruffled his chocolate brown hair. He turned to Sehun and informed who was on the other side before opening the door.

“It’s Minseok.”

The younger hummed and nodded in response, then Jongin proceed to open the door to greet the short male once again.

Minseok smiled- genuinely this time, and asked politely if he could come inside. His brows knotting slightly, Sehun stared at the short male that walked inside. He didn’t like how the shorter continued to change his expression so often, it only put him on edge.

On the short man’s back there was a black backpack, filled with whatever that was inside. The brothers looked at it curiously, but didn’t ask, figuring it wasn’t their business to be putting their noses in.

Sehun didn’t know if it was just him, but the look on Minseok’s face seemed like the shorter had plenty on his mind and was already preoccupied. He looked stressed. Like he had the world weighing is shoulders down.

The two men walked from the entrance and joined Sehun at the table, sitting down quietly.

For some reason Minseok kept fidgeting around nervously, but Sehun didn’t mind, he was more concerned something may have happened to him while running errands. Even though literally everyone in this community was sketchy, Sehun felt as if he should try and trust the shorter because he thought maybe he could help him, but didn’t know how.

“Are you alright there, Minseok?” Jongin asked slowly and carefully set his hand on the latter’s back in an attempt to comfort the shorter.

“Yes, I’m fine, just a bit stressed I guess. But, aren’t we all?” Minseok sighed and nervously laughed, “Anyways, I figured out what your assigned jobs are.”

Both the brothers looked at each other with perplexed glances before looking back at the shorter as he continued.

“You two will be working with the scout and scavenger team, since a few things happened this week, we need new recruits to make up for some missing people.”

“What happened?” Sehun asked, interested as to what may have happened to the missing members, "To the other people."

Minseok shook his head and smiled anxiously, “Don’t worry about it, they’re fine. They just got assigned to new jobs, that’s all.”

Sehun’s mouth formed and ‘o’ shape, and then he and Jongin quickly nodded in approval. 

Smiling happily, Jongin asked the short man sitting next to him, “When do we start, and where do we meet up?”

Minseok grinned, he was glad these two seemed to be so optimistic. He did not regret getting Kris to let them stay.

“Actually,” Minseok answered sheepishly, “you’ll be starting tomorrow morning, I’ll pick you guys up around six in the morning.”

The brothers looked at each other and gave looks of approval, then turned back to Minseok. 

Jongin replied to the shorter, “Okay, then we’ll make sure to try to get some rest and prepare.”

“Good!” Minseok cheered, “Don’t worry about getting anything ready for tomorrow, like packing or anything. I’ll get all that stuff prepared since you guys just arrived here.”

“Okay, thanks.” Sehun thanked the shorter politely.

Pulling the backpack off his back, Minseok put his black bag onto the table to show the brothers, “Since it’s not nearly close to sundown yet, I was thinking I could take you two around to get more food and clothes- I brought some things to trade, so don’t worry.”

Sehun hummed and shrugged his shoulders, “Sure, why not?”

As the brothers stood up to follow Minseok out the door, Sehun tried to analyze the shorter’s movements and actions. Something seemed different about the short male since the last time he saw him a few hours ago. Did have some sort of rain check? Before, Minseok acted like a crazy murduer with sinister intentions when they first met, then he started to be all secretive and mysterious.. but now he seemed to be more honest? Like something happened in the short amount of time he was away, and decided to be more trusting in the brothers or something.

Though, Sehun was definitely appreciating this change, he was still extremely confused and needed answers. Minseok was still someone to be wary of, no matter how many sudden epiphanies he went through.

_ ✴⭐~⭐✴ _

A pair of shoes rapidly clacked on the tile floor, the sound echoing off the walls in the dimly lit hallway. The tall man who wore those shoes finally stopped once they stood in front of two large chestnut brown double doors, and raised his curled fist to knock loudly.

“Come in!” the loud voice of another man called from behind the doors.

When the tall man walked inside of Kris’s office, Kris immediately recognized the other tall, lean man as a wide maniacal grin stretched across his twisted lips.

“My  _ right-hand man _ ! Finally, you showed up~” Kris announced in a boisterous voice.

The other man who entered was nearly Kris’s height, he was very tall, thin, and extremely fit. Just by looking at him you could tell the man probably constantly worked out. He wore a large ash grey hoodie, blood splattered all over from previous fights and had consequently soiled his clothes. He also wore black jeans that had random rips here and there, and a pair of large brown combat boots.

Shrugging his shoulders casually, the man shoved his hands into his jeans pockets and calmly strolled over to the front of Kris’s desk. His messy brown hair bounced on his forehead as he took each lazy step forward.

Kris was sitting in his black cushioned chair behind his desk with a few pieces of paper he received from Tao were splayed in front of him so he could review them. He quickly gathered the papers and set them aside as he asked the other tall man in a darker tone, “Did you  _ deal _ with our little…  _ predicament _ ?”

“Yes, the threat is gone. I even did a count.” the tall man replied, his voice was deep and smooth, like melted dark chocolate dripping on a savory sweet apple.

The leader-like man quirked a brow as if he were telling the other to continue, and the man standing in front of him continued, his deep voice resonated out loudly even without the need to raise it, “Twenty-one, that should be all who was in the group, no one left. Nor did anyone suddenly join while I was there.”

Kris closed his eyes and nodded with a satisfied grin, a dark intensity lingered from his sinister smile, and chuckled, “Good, I have another job for you~”

_ ✴⭐~⭐✴ _

“How is everything here working? Like, how is there working electricity and running water?” Jongin curiously asked Minseok as he followed the shorter around the community with his brother.

Minseok hummed and replied proudly, “We have generators and wells underground. We discovered them when we were first scouting larger areas to claim, so we could take in other survivors and build up our community. We were walking through the underground tunnels in the sewers and found them.”

Grimacing at the thought of walking through the sewers, Jongin scrunched up his nose and retorted, “Wow, sounds nice.”

The three walked through the small crowd of people closely gathered in the street with bags full of items Minseok traded for. The skies were now a faded dark mix shades of blue, bright pink, burnt orange, and lavender as the sun was now beginning to submerge below the horizon.

People in the streets thinned out in numbers since it was now nightfall and they were now going inside their respective buildings to rest till the sun finally rises once again, informing everyone a new day has officially begun.

As the three men calmly walked back to Sehun and Jongin’s building, Sehun looked around and took immediate notice of the wall guards with their large guns and attached silencers. The guard’s weapons reflected off the little bit of light that was shone on them from the enormous spotlights around the borders of the makeshift barricade to spot lingering z’s more clearly.

Other than the wall guards, there were also perimeter guards inside of the community spectating the streets as they strolled along the sides of the wall.

To some, it may look like this set up was safe and would give others relief, but to Sehun it only reminded him of one thing: a prison. From buildings to community guards to ‘The House of Blood Stain’- especially the House of Blood Stain. Blood Stain didn’t seem.. totally  _ sane _ .. here everyone is untrustworthy and secretive as if they were prisoners bound in punishing chains. Making it seem all the more dangerous to Sehun. He did not trust this place, or even a single person belonging there.

Minseok unlocked their building's main door before they all walked through the large building to get to Sehun and Jongin’s apartment, upstairs.

Once they reached the brother’s room, Sehun pulled out the gold key he received from Minseok from his back pocket and unlocked the door for them to go inside the abnormally ice cold room.

Walking over to the small round wooden table, Minseok carefully placed his black backpack on the old table before he unzipped the bag and reached in to grab the items within it, and set the things onto the table. The items on the table were mostly non-perishable foods that were easy to trade for: canned soups, packaged dry noodles, and jellies in jars and other edible substances. The other items were a pair of black tank tops, two gun silencers, a small bottle of antibiotics, and a nice pair of dark brown combat boots and a faded black pair.

“Alright, these are yours, take them.” Minseok told the two tall men still standing beside him as he turned to them and handed them the clothing items and other miscellaneous items he traded, “Go put your shit in your room while I put your food away real quick. I’ll get going after I’m done.”

Sehun lightly chuckled at the way the short man spoke to them, so parently. Then he and Jongin took the items from the shorter and went to their rooms to sort their small amount of stuff Minseok generously got for them.

When they returned Minseok was still in the kitchen, placing some canned food into an open cupboard shelf.

Jongin sighed contently and plopped himself onto one of the table’s small wooden chairs as he cheered a happy, “Thanks, Min!”

The short man laughed dryly and responded in a quiet voice, “No problem..”

“No- really.” Jongin assured after he noticed Minseok’s tone, “You’ve been a big help. Not only did you take our sorry asses in, you’ve also provided food and necessities for us. Thank you, seriously man.”

Minseok’s eyes widened slightly, then a small genuine smile crept onto his lips, “Of course.”

Shuffling around the room a bit more, Minseok finally finished storing everything away and walked back to the table where Sehun and Jongin sat quietly, watching the short man move around the kitchen. Minseok grabbed his now empty bag to head towards the exit to leave once again.

As Minseok was getting ready to turn the knob, he suddenly remembered something important and turned to the brothers to inform them quickly, “I’ll be coming to pick you up a little before 6:30 tomorrow morning, so I can introduce you to your new ‘teammates’ and then we can discuss our objective.”

The brothers nodded and mumbled quiet okays to show Minseok that they acknowledged him.

Minseok smiled, giving a thumbs up before he bid his goodbye, “Try and get some sleep, see you guys later!”, and with that said and done, the short man waved his hand farewell as he walked out of the door.

“This place-” Sehun tried to begin in a serious and concerned tone before Jongin rudely interrupted to finish the younger's sentence.

“Is fucking awesome!” Jongin shouted excitedly. It seemed that the older man had completely forgotten about the previous incidents that day, and Sehun didn’t like how Jongin was so dismissive about everything. Sehun thought there was definitely something going on behind the scenes, but he knew in order to find that out, he'd have to do some digging, which could take a long time and would prove to be difficult.

Sehun sighed and shook his head as he finished his original thought, “Is  _ strange _ . Something doesn’t really feel right.. something’s off about this whole ‘Blood Stain’ community thing.”

Side-eyeing the former, Jongin dwelled on what the younger said, then retorted seriously, “I know, but it’s the fucking apocalypse, Sehun. You’ve been saying the same thing all day, and I get it, this place is screwed up. But, this is as good as it fucking gets, and we’ll have to deal with it.”

Sehun only rolled his eyes before standing up from his seat abruptly, then walked to his bedroom grumbling out a quick ‘I’m going to bed’ as he stormed off to his room. Sehun was tired of Jongin disregarding everything, and relaxing like everything was going to be okay. He knew nothing was going to be ‘okay’- not here anyway. Sehun just wanted Jongin to open his eyes and realize how serious this was, but he knew his brother was hard-headed, and gave up for now.

Jongin watched the younger stomp off as he continued to sit at the old unstable table, thinking over their small quarrel for a moment.

“Just get used to it..” Jongin mumbled to no one in particular, “it’s eventually going to get worse, bud..”

Standing up from his chair shortly after waiting for a bit to think to himself, Jongin pushed in his chair and flicked off the lamp light, then went into his new bedroom to crawl into his bed and almost instantly fell asleep.

_ ✴⭐~⭐✴ _

As much as Sehun wanted to get some sleep, he just couldn’t seem to. There was too much on his mind, which made him end up lying in bed wide awake, staring into the darkness all night as he continued to think deeply to himself.

He finally decided it was time to get up when he saw orange burst through the navy starry skies, dawn already seeping through his thin beige curtains that were made out of old sheets. It was now the beginning of a new day.

Sehun lethargically threw his legs off his bed and calmly walked out of the small bedroom to the living room to check the time on the small wall clock above the television set. It was currently 5:37 in the morning.

He sighed and contemplated trying to make some sort of breakfast for himself, but he was still stuck on the idea that their whole scenario that they were in was too good to be true, and ultimately decided it wasn’t needed. He thought he could always eat later, and if he didn’t eat it would save their food supply during desperate measures.

But as Sehun turned to walk back to lie in his bed again, his stomach let out a loud rumble, proving how hungry he actually was.

Sehun let out a frustrated sigh before he stormed into the kitchen to harshly grab an orange from the fishnet bag on the small wooden table, and quickly rushed back to his bed to peel and eat his orange on his cold mattress.

When he got to his room, Sehun lazily flopped onto the blanket-covered mattress, then sat up and scooted over to lean his back on the wall as he began to peel his orange in the dim light emitting from the curtains.

Placing the fruits peels on the nightstand beside the bed, Sehun silently ate his orange slices in peace and looked through slight opening between the sheet-curtains to watch the sun gradually chase away the night sky once again.

“There’s definitely something wrong with that Kris guy..” Sehun talked to himself as he pondered out loud, “His head isn’t.. in the right place… he seems..  _ psychotic _ .”

Sehun continued to eat his orange pieces quietly and drowned in his own thoughts. The most recurring thought being that he wished he could just go back in time and figure out who the hell did this, and stop them, there being alternate and no so life-threatening solutions to the massive population growth problem. Even though it was extremely effective, it was the worst ‘solution’. There was death everywhere, and flesh eating monsters at every corner ready to take the lives of innocent souls- but it’s not like the people who release the chemical gave a shit. 

Sehun just wished he could’ve done something. He wished he could do something now, but it’s not like he’s a mad scientist that can slap a recipe on a table and figure out a cure, it was way out of his league to be even going near that kind of stuff, he’d end up killing more people.

The tall man reached a hand up to ruffle his short jet black hair in frustration, then threw in legs over the bed and sat on the edge. Sehun looked over to the single pillow on the small bed, and stretched over to dig under it to retrieve his weapon that was currently hidden under it safely.

Once he had his slick black magnum in his grasp he grabbed a dirty cleaning rag he set on the nightstand beside the bed, and hunched over in exhaustion as he slowly used the oily cloth and gingerly cleaned his pistol with care, making sure to take the detachable parts off to thoroughly clean it.

He carefully scrubbed the barrel with a small metal stick with bristles covered in oil, sticking it down the opening to get any collected gunk out from the barrel. After inspecting the tube he decided to move on and clean the other smaller parts he took off the gun, to clean and reoil them as well. 

After thoroughly cleaning and double checking his important gun parts, he took his time to carefully assemble the pistol back together.

Sehun often enjoyed cleaning his gun when his mind was clouded with troubling thoughts, it always seemed to relieve his stress. Even just wiping the weapon with a dirty rag would help distract him, it was so simple.

As Sehun was busy doing that, Jongin slipped through the ajar door and sat next to his younger brother on the bed.

“Can’t sleep?” Jongin asked calmly, ignoring the fact that not even a few hours ago they had an argument. He knew Sehun couldn’t be mad or hold a grudge. He also knew about the younger’s problematic case of insomnia, which is why he was talking so gently to him. Jongin couldn’t blame Sehun either, the guy’s been through so much already, and has seen so many horrible things. He’s honestly surprised the younger hasn’t lost his mind and submitted himself to his dark thoughts, or even tried to take his own life.

Sehun leaned over and rested his elbows on his knees, gun still in hand as he finished putting the last pieces together in the right places. He kept his eyes lowered on his gun and tiredly replied with a simple, “Yeah.”

Jongin hummed and pressed on a bit, he knew it was probably more than just not being able to rest this time, “What’s on your mind?” but he could already guess what could’ve been preoccupying the younger's thoughts.

“Why?” the younger quirked a brow and asked, his voice monotone as he raised his eyes to look at his older brother.

Pointing and nodding at the gun in Sehun’s hand, Jongin answered, “Your mind seems to be occupied, you don’t really clean your gun like that, only when something’s on your mind and is bothering you.”

Sehun groaned and chuckled a bit as he sat his magnum onto the small nightstand. After carefully setting his pistol down, Sehun gently put his head into his hands and used the end of his palms to rub his eyes. He knew his brother could read him easily, they’ve known each other their whole lives, and they could tell when the other was lying or not. Obviously, Jongin could tell Sehun was on edge.

“Nothing is really bothering me, don’t worry, I’m fine.” Sehun lied, even knowing the fact that the older could tell, and knew Jongin was spot on and knew something was irritating the younger. But Sehun would never tell his brother because he also knew Jongin would only get stressed and try to help him even though it was more of a permanent damage sort of thing, and couldn’t be fixed.

“Really?” Jongin asked softly, knowing the younger was clearly lying, the consequences of knowing Sehun too well.

“Yeah.” Sehun affirmed, still letting his head rest in his open hands.

Jongin sighed, knowing that’s all Sehun would tell him, and if he kept trying to prying the younger, it would only irritate him and make Sehun want to ignore him. 

“Alright then.. just remember,” the older began and got Sehun’s attention.

Sehun lifted his head from his hands and turned his head slightly to look at his older brother, “Hm?”

“Remember I’m always here to talk, I don’t mind listening. We’re in this together, we need each other, so don’t you close yourself off and hide everything from me all the time, Sehun.” Jongin said softly, not trying to push Sehun too much. He didn’t want to accidentally stress the younger out.

Sehun nodded, still lazily staring at Jongin and replied, “Of course. But don’t worry about me, really I just couldn’t get sleep- I’m fine.”

He watches as his brother’s brows slightly knotted together. Sehun knew that if he tried to talk to him it’d either result in stressing Jongin out and make it seem like he was pressuring him to act like the actual older brother or something, or they’d end up arguing again.

It wasn’t always like that though. When they were younger, and before the apocalypse broke out, they were practically attached to the hip. They were each other's best friend, and would tell everything to each other. But that soon changed as tension grew between the two when they couldn’t seem to stay on the same page when figuring out plans and solutions while traveling through the disastrous world they were now living in.

“Okay..” Jongin said in an almost protesting voice.

Gently setting his hand on the younger’s broad shoulder, Jongin stood up and looked down at Sehun, giving a firm nod before leaving the younger’s room.

As Jongin left the room Sehun sighed depressingly, still dwelling on his thoughts from earlier, then got up from his mattress as well and prepared his weapon belt for later.

To pass the time faster while they waited for Minseok, Jongin and Sehun decided to rewatch the movie Jongin found inside of the entertainment center since that was the only movie he could seem to find.

Throughout the whole time while the movie played Sehun’s eyes repetitively drooped tiredly, the consequences for losing sleep. But soon let his eyes close, wanting to take at power nap before an inevitable death.

Thirty minutes or so went by when the short man the brothers were currently waiting for unlocked their door with his spare key, and slipped inside to spot the two on the couch. He had two extra filled backpacks in his hands, one being a plain black one and the other a camo printed bag.

“Looks like you guys are already making this place home.” Minseok chuckled lightly with a small smile.

Even with his bright smile, Sehun could tell just by looking at the other’s appearance that Minseok didn’t get any rest as well. His hair was a bit out of place, even though his hair was permed it was stuck flat with sweat in certain areas while others were nice and fluffy, and his eye bags prominent with a dark purple sagging under his eyes.

Sehun dismissed his comment and straightforwardly asked, “Did you not sleep?”

Minseok’s eyes widened a little in shock and then answered sheepishly, “Not really. Is it really noticeable?”

“Yes.” Sehun bluntly answered, then pointed to the two backpacks Minseok hand in his hands, “What are those?”

Lifting up the bags to show the brothers, Minseok answered the tall man, “These are for our scout trip, we typically take three days to a week while we’re out, so these bags are packed with some necessities for the long travel. There is an extra pair of clothes in each, as well as some small canned food, water, and a small first-aid kit for emergencies.”

Minseok handed the backpacks to the two, giving the plain black bag to Sehun and the camo printed to Jongin. Sehun unzipped his bag that was given to see that inside were the exact items the short man listed off, then closed it back up before standing up and slinging the bag onto his broad shoulder.

Jongin jumped up enthusiastically and slid his own backpack on as well, then retorted with a small chuckle, “Let’s go! We’re ready to come back home.”

“Good!” Minseok smiled a little oddly, that one that made Sehun feel slightly threatened, “We better hurry so you can meet your new ‘crew’.”

Humming to show that he acknowledged the short man, Sehun began to silently follow Minseok out the door towards the building’s exit.

The three walked out of the large building, then followed Minseok towards the large walls they first passed through when they were brought here yesterday afternoon. In front of the gigantic closed metal doors six other people stood around with filled bags on their backs as well.

“Newbies?” One of the guys with a gravelly voice asked disinterestedly, he sounded more sarcastic than anything as he shoved his hands deep into his sweatpants. He wore what looked like to be navy sweatpants, dirty plain black shirt, dark boots, and a black beanie on top of his head to conceal his near platinum blonde hair.

A tall female with long black hair wearing a baggy jacket, dark jeans, and black tennis shoes punched the other on the arm, and glared at him as if she were silently scolding the former, then looked back and smiled apologetically. 

“Sorry about him, he’s always grumpy, I’m Sooyoung, you can call me Joy. That guy over there who I punched is Mark, you two must be Sehun and Jongin? Our other scavenger group and Minseok told us about you guys. It’s nice to finally meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too.” Jongin smiled back before awkwardly asking, “And if I may ask, what were you told- about us, I mean.”

“Honestly, nothing much.” Joy answered truthfully, “Just said what you guys said your names were, that you two are siblings, and that you guys were out there by yourselves when they found you.”

Sehun eyed the tall girl as if he were attempting to read her. He felt as if there might’ve been more said, even though it obviously didn’t concern Jongin that much, Sehun still felt weary and was awfully suspicious of everything.

The tall girl coughed nervously as she awkwardly chuckled once she took notice Sehun glaring her way, “Is he alright?”

Glancing at Sehun, Jongin firmly patted the younger’s back to silently order the other to stop, then quickly explained, “He’s fine, Sehun just has a  _ resting bitchface _ , sorry about that.”

“Oh.. okay..”, Joy nodded nervously and looked away from Sehun’s intense glare.

Jongin turned to Sehun, scowling at him as he fiercely whispered, “Stop it, we need to fit in.”

Sehun only rolled his eyes in annoyance and scoffed in response. Of course his brother was going to want to ‘fit in’ this sketchy ass group.

“Let’s get on with it.” Sehun growled quietly.

Joy gave a slightly crooked smile, it seemed the younger of the two brothers didn’t really take a liking to her. He looked at her as if she had  _ skeletons in her closet. _

The tall girl put a fist over her mouth and cleared her throat loudly to get everyone’s attention, then spoke to everyone, “Alright, before we do anything, we need to go over a few things as a team.”

Everyone hummed and mumbled simple ‘okay’s in response. Joy smiled and continued with a brighter and more hopeful voice.

“First, we need to introduce ourselves to our newest teammates! Again, I’m Sooyoung, you can call me Joy. I’m this particular scavenger groups’ leader.”

After Joy was done the grouchy guy from before spoke up next, using the same exact tone as before when he originally ‘greeted’ them, “Mark.”

Next to Mark another male had a smug smirk etched on his lips. He wore black jeans, steel-toe boots, and a red hoodie. He nodded his head and answered in a deepish voice, “I’m Jared, pleasure to meet you guys.”

Jongin smiled lightly, nudged his head and replied, “You too.”

A shorter girl standing right beside Jared grinned sweetly, she had short shoulder-length chestnut brown hair, tan jorts, grey skin tight shirt, and brown combat boots.

“I’m Arianna.” she said in a soft and gentle voice as she introduced herself as well, and then in a bit darker tone she added with yet another smile, “Don’t underestimate me.”

The brothers slightly flinched at Arianna’s words, contemplating with themselves if they should steer clear of pissing the short girl off.

“I’m Barrett!” another tall guy with silver hair cut in a cool bowl cut style happily announced, and then pointed to a shorter male beside him that had really short orange hair and wore fairly casual clothes, “And my cousin here is Logan”

“Hi,” Jongin replied calmly before nudging Sehun and introduced themselves as well, “This is my little brother, Sehun, and I’m Jongin. It’s nice to meet you all.”

Jongin reached out his hand, briefly greeting everyone with a firm handshake, then politely brought his hand back to push them into his jeans pockets. On the other hand, Sehun left his hand stay deep within his pockets, not wanting to really greet anyone and get on with it.

“Now that that is done, we need to go over our objective for this ‘mission’,” Joy informed shortly after everyone was done with their introductions, and slid off her bag from her shoulder to unzip the very front pocket to reach in and grab something from inside. She pulled out a folded piece of paper, then quickly unfolded it and laid it out onto the ground to show that is was a large map of the area. The map had all sorts of markings on it with black and red marker written on certain areas, or specific places were circles with colors.

Sehun tilted his head and curiously looked at the elaborate map, never seeing such a detailed map with so many specific notes and writing all over it. He wondered what everything meant as he looked over all the writing.

“Since we’ve cleared out quite a few small towns and stop areas, we’ll either need to head further North; farther away from the main city, towards the main city near us, or we’ll do some real scavenging through the woods- this of course after a few of our main priorities are completed, which I’ll explain later. Any suggestions?”

Jared raised his hand as he spoke his thoughts, “Since we’re already planning to head North, it’d make sense if we just head North and look for minor towns and rest stops, we’re heading that way anyway.”

Putting a knuckle to her chin, Joy hummed thinking about Jared’s logical answer. Then another person rose their hand as they spoke.

“Or, we should go to one of the less z populated areas of the main city, and try to clear out some zombies so we can attempt to get into a few of the smaller buildings?” Arianna suggested.

Joy shrugged and nodded again and deeply thought about the two inputs that were given to her.

She gently clapped her hands together coming up with a decision to figure out the best way to solve this, “Let’s settle this with a raise of hands, shall we?”

Everyone gathered around the tall female and nodded as they replied with quiet ‘okay’s, then Joy continued.

“Those who want to go to the main city, raise your hand.” Joy commanded in a stern voice.

Arianna and Mark both lifted their arms, then after Joy noticed them they lowered their hands back down.

“Now, for those who want to go just go North, raise your hand.”

The remaining people that didn’t raise their hands before raised their arms- except Sehun, he let his hands stay buried in his pockets at his sides.

Joy noticed Sehun’s refusal to raise his hand for either choice offered, and quires, “Sehun, you didn’t raise your hand for anything. Did you not like the options?”

“I don’t really care, I’m just following because I have to.” Sehun coldly replied, putting Joy uncomfortably on edge as he stared at her with a blank expression.

“O-okay, then,” the tall girl stammered, “guess we’re heading North since majority of hands voted for searching North. Now we can discuss the more important matters.”

Joy kneeled down, where she had the map stretched out on the ground. Sehun stared at the map curiously again, trying to understand the jumbled mess of red and black marker all over the large piece of paper.

The tall girl pointed to a spot North on the map, red marker circling it, then she explained seriously, “Our main goal this week is to scout out this newly discovered group; apparently Rem and his scavenger team crossed paths with them, and he said they looked like they could either be a potential threat or are hiding something of value to us-”

But before Joy could finish with her thorough explanation, Sehun interrupted her with a stern tone and slightly glared at her, “Why should that matter to us? What are we gonna do? Rob and take their shit that could be completely useless? You know, we should be more concerned about looking for supplies instead of going out of our way to literally stalk and raid this group we hardly have any knowledge of. At least get some facts straight before just charging full force.”

Joy remained kneeling on the ground with a dumbfounded expression plastered on her face. It was the first time someone had enough in them to question her authority or her strategies.

“Well..” Joy struggled to think for a split second, “if they’re really a threat like Rem claimed, we should scout their territory, and see if it’s true for everyone’s safety. I didn’t say we were going to rob them.”

Sehun hummed and crossed his arms like he wasn’t buying her lame excuse, then pushed on, “Then, what if they’re not a threat? We can’t just go there and attack them even if they’re are a threat. And it’d be pointless to just go up there for no reason, even if we’re going to be digging around afterwards. You’re being selfish.”

“I.. I am not being selfish..” Joy nervously replied.

“Well, I beg to differ.” Sehun retorted sharply.

Everyone stepped back away from the two as they argued, watching the scene in front of them unfold.

“Isn’t it best if we leave them alone? It’s not like we’ll get anything out of it besides bloodshed.” Sehun stated, his voice laced with a cold and scolding tone. It was as if he was scolding an adolescent child, but instead of a child it was a fully grown adult.

The tall woman’s face contorted with irritation, the man standing in front of her already infuriating her after being there for only a handful amount of minutes.

“What the fuck does it matter to you?! Who do you think you are, talking down on me like I’m some five year old child?!” Joy suddenly bursted out angerly at the taller man as she stood up, “I don’t care if you like it or not- or even think it’s selfish of me, but I just want to scout out this to make sure they’re not a fucking threat, god damn it!”

Sehun didn’t even move a muscle or flinch when Joy blew up in his face, he genuinely listened to what she had to say, and stayed silent. He might’ve not agreed with her reasoning, but he had a feeling he should stop there, so he did.

Noticing Sehun’s lack of reaction or response, Joy decided to take a few deep breaths to calm herself. She had worked herself up and she worried she might’ve gave off a bad image. She finally decided to speak again in a softer voice.

“I’m sorry about yelling, accidentally lost my temper for a minute.”

The tall man only shrugged in reply, using a hand to comb through his jet black hair. The outburst didn’t really affect him, he could honestly care less. He just wanted to get whatever they were doing, done, and get back so he can figure out his own problems.

“What I mean to say,” Joy tried to correct herself as she continued, and gently sat back onto her knees, “I know it may seem pointless- or even selfish, but I just want to do some  _ just incase  _ investigating, y’know? Because we never know, they may one day merge with Blood Stain.   
  


Sehun hummed, showing Joy he acknowledged her, and stayed silent once again. He thought about the last part she said about Blood Stain and this new group ‘merging’, and thought it was absolute bullshit. With what he’s seen so far, personality wise, these people didn’t seem like the friendly ‘let’s combine groups for the better!’ kind.

As the tall man stayed quiet, Joy went back to instructing with a new goal in mind since her little quarrel with Sehun pissed her off and she didn’t want to go through that again.

“Our new target shall be similar like the one before, but let’s not jump into assumptions about other groups,” she stated as she glanced at Sehun, “ so let’s still go there and scout them out. Maybe if they seem non-threatening, we can greet them and invite them to our community? Sound good, everybody?”

Several ‘okay’s and hums in approval were heard within the small team before the tall girl kneeling in front of the map continued again.

“Alright, then..” Joy nodded her head, and pulled out a small notebook, flipping a few pages to get to a specific marked page, “After and while we’re traveling, we need to look for a few important things. Tao gave me a list for after our mission. The main things we’ll need to keep an eye for are: cases of bottled water, preservative food or non-perishables, antibiotics, first-aid kits, and ammunition. Got it? I’ll figure out the rest.”

Everyone listened to Joy and obediently agreed, then shifted around a bit as the tall woman finally stood up as she grabbed the map and folded it back up to put it into the side pocket of her backpack.

“That’s it, so let’s go!” Joy encouragingly jumped up.

As the tall female led everyone to the enormous metal gates to leave, Sehun looked at Jongin to quickly check on him, and see how he was feeling about this ‘mission’.

Jongin had a blank face and aimlessly followed, it seemed like his mind was already preoccupied.

Sehun sighed quietly as he thought to himself, ‘ _ So, that was Sooyoung’s true colors, huh? I need to be careful around her.. because this.. is gonna be a long “trip”.’ _

**Author's Note:**

> hope you enjoyed the first chapter and please look forward to the next chap, please comment i'd love feed back :)  
> and sorry about the bad grammar/spelling, english is not my first language :(
> 
> (if you have wattpad, which is where i originally posted this, my user name is the same)


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